Meandering Missive: "Where's George?" (and why it matters!)

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

"Where's George?" (and why it matters!)

I forgot to mention this in my triad of entries about Las Vegas trip, but that's just as well, since those were all too long anyway! *chuckle*

What I wanted to say was that I spent a handful of Where's George? dollars on the trip. Where's George is an ingenuous website where you can track everywhere a bill has been and continues to be. I first discovered the site when I came into possession of a dollar bill stamped in colored ink with something like "See where I've been! www.wheresgeorge.com". (It was supposed to be George Washington talking).

I visited the site and found a place to enter that bill's serial number. I then learned how many other people before me had found the bill, entered the number and entered information about themselves (if nothing else, their city and state). Looking at this and the chart that shows how far the bill has traveled in days and in miles FASCINATED me! It's not just about ones, either. The site has provisions for tracking $2, $5, $10, $20 and higher bills as well. It's simply that $1 bills are the most common, and the website's namesake George is on them. ;)

Because I rarely ever receive a Where's George? bill, I decided to start making them myself. I write "www.wheresgeorge.com --> Track this bill online!" along the horizontal top or bottom margin of various bills, mainly ones. Then I highlight the URL portion. I've been doing this now and then for close to a year, but so far only 7 bills I've marked have ever been re-entered on the site (6 were re-entered once, 1 was re-entered twice). The farthest recorded location of one of my bills is Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois. The closest is Campbell, one of San Jose's neighboring cities.

In an effort to get some of my bills circulating faster, I marked some, registered them at Where's George? for the start of their journey, and then spent them on my trip. I hope to see them being re-entered from all across the country! :) I should've made notes of where I spent them, but I think I can still remember most of them....

$5 at San Jose International Airport gift shop

$1 as part of change for a $5 I gave Shelley, my seatmate when we were delayed flying to Vegas and a raffle game took place on the plane (more info on that day here.)

$1 as part of a tip I gave the Las Vegas shuttle driver who took me to The Aladdin

$1 in the hotel's gift shop

$1 into a slot machine

$1 as a tip for a drink

$1 toward my bill at either Starbucks or the Zanzibar Cafe (both inside The Aladdin)

$1 I think somewhere else, but I'm not sure

I know everyone (including myself) has much better things to do, but I really encourage everyone to give Where's George a try. Whether you enter a bill you found or start your own bills, let's get those dollars circulating! (And unlike the old "message in a bottle" concept, you actually stand a good chance of success with Where's George!) So keep your eye on the money! %-)

Today I am feeling interested.

posted by ScaryShari @ 2:05 PM

1 Comments:

At 7:39 PM, Unknown said…

Wow, I didn't know you were a Georger too. :) There's a great Where's George community on LJ. I George all the time; until recently I was ranked within the top 300 in California (which is no mean feat). Spent a ton on our honeymoon last year and they've been popping up all over the place!

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